Censorship is the one area of the Internet that US citizens are
concerned the government may get too involved with. The online gambling
industry has already seen a form of censorship in the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act that was created back in 2006.
Representative Barney Frank is fighting in Congress for the right to
keep the Internet free from government interference when it comes to
online gambling. Recently, however, suspicions have been high regarding a
deleted The Obama Deception movie.
The video, which was posted on YouTube by author Alex Jones, was
receiving massive amounts of hits, but as quickly as it was posted, the
video disappeared. No evidence exists as to who deleted the video from
the page, but Jones has some thoughts on the issue.
"This was an inside job, by either a YouTube or Google employee, or
someone they gave the pass code to," said Jones on a video explaining
what happened to the video, "and YouTube needs to launch an
investigation and track back the IP addresses from where this
originated..."
The law attempts to criminalize online gambling, although it falls short
of defining exactly which games are or are not legal. Rep. Frank has
introduced legislation to overturn the UIGEA, but with the economy top
on the list of issues, the House Finance Committee that Frank chairs has
been unable to move forward with the legislation.
The Obama Deception being deleted has caused some to question how far
the government would go to control the content on the Internet. While
there has been no connection made to the deletion of the video and the
government, it still raises important questions.
"I like to play online poker, but I'm wondering if one day I'm going to
wake up and see that my favorite sites are no longer available," said
one online gambler who wished to remain anonymous. "It seems like
everything the government wants to go away, goes away, and that is
scary."